Boosting the Pod signal?

[NoSleepTilMetal]

You know, I love my PodXT as much as the next Line 6 whore, but I've seen several of the mini-preamps made by that brand Art and I'm really curious if there's anyway I can use one to boost the signal (and tone, perhaps?) of my PodXT or UX1 (for vocals). Anybody try it or know if it works?

Here's an example of what I'm thinking about Buy ART Tube MP Project Series Tube Microphone/Instrument Preamp online

 

[Vince]

why do you need a preamp boost?

 

[TomAwesome]

I was looking into that for a while, too. What I heard about the ART Tube MP units is more or less that it smooths out the sound in a way that's good for vocals, but not so good for guitars, particularly if you're trying to play metal.

What do you need the boost for? If you just need a straight up volume boost, maybe look into a pedal like that Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. I'm planning to get one when my band starts gigging again since my rig isn't loud enough for a lot of our gigs.

 

[NoSleepTilMetal]

I'm just looking for a little extra 'oomph' is all , not that I'm the biggest tube fan out there but I feel like my pod recordings could stand to have alittle more color. As far as vocals go, I definitely need the extra power. The Toneport UX1 is a fine tool for the price but it's too quiet and ... I guess the word is "thin" for vocals.

Everything I hear about these Art products is really positive so I'm thinking they might be what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure if they can be used simultaneously with my line 6 gear, anyone try this out?

 

[keithb]

Are you planning to run this before or after the POD?

 

[Martin_777]

I'm just looking for a little extra 'oomph' is all , ...

Maybe a BBE Sonic Maximizer is the right thing for you. I remember Shannon using one in combination with his POD.

Welcome to BBE Sound

Here are some threads about them:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/6425-bbe-sonic-maximizer.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/27366-bbe-sonic-maximiser.html

 

[7 Dying Trees]

"boosting" a modeller doesn't really work that well, they are basically DSP chips and therefore there's really no gain stages to push like with a tube amp.

For the vocals you should possibly just get a good mic preamp as that's probably the cause!

In fact, it's quite possible that you'd be better off with a good soundcard rather than the line6 stuff, and run the pod-xt into that and a good microphone into a proper mic preamp (which most good soundcards do have) and then run that into a sequencer.

 

[NoSleepTilMetal]

I think it would really only work before the pod/toneport in the effects chain because then it will boost the signal before it's converted to digital or at least that's how I think it'll work .

That sonic maximizer seems pretty nifty, but if there's anything by Art that's comparable to it I'd rather go with that (budget gear F yeah!).

 

[TomAwesome]

I can't see how running the preamp before the POD would do anything good. Usually when tubes are used together with a POD, the tubes go after the POD. For example, My rig is guitar -> digital models -> EQ -> Sonic Maximizer -> tube power amp. The tube won't do anything to smooth out or warm up the digital models if they happen after the tube. If anything, you might run a risk of clipping the POD if there's much boosting going on.

The Sonic Maximizer is pretty neat, but you really can't compare it to running the signal through tubes. They do completely different things to the sound.

 

[NoSleepTilMetal]

Well.. I suppose you're right, I cannot claim to be any kind of expert on this sort of thing. Are there any decent resources out there for learning about these sorts of things ? I've got several books on home recording, but for the most part they're not entirely up-to-date/specific and they're definitely for total n00bs and I feel I'm slightly past that state.

But anyways, do you think it's feasible to put the tube stuff after the pod? I'm guessing from how everyone's responded that it's far from what I thought it was.

 

[Benzesp]

you can run a tube pre after your pod to add "color" but added boost or gain will just add noise and possibly clip the input of your audio interface. I've done it with some really good results.